Pump construction



Oct. 9, 1956 G. s. PERKINS 2,765,962

PUMP CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 20, '1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i7 20 1g 20 i5 76 FIG.2.

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INVENTOR I George S. Perkms AT NY Oct. 9, 1956 e. s. PERKINS 2,765,962

PUMP CONSTRUCTION Filed Jan. 20, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS.

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7 INVENTOR 20 G egrge S. Perk ins TOR Y United States Patent PUMP CONSTRUCTION George S. Perkins, Kew Gardens, N. Y., assignor to National Equipment Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application January 20, 1956, Serial No. 560,350

6 Claims. (Cl. 222-2559 This invention relates to pump construction, and more particularly to pumps of the type adapted for use in confectionery-making apparatus and other machinery. EX- amples of the type of pump to which the present invention relates will be found in my Patent No. 2,510,317, dated June 6, 1950 and also in my copending application Serial No. 516,076, filed June 17, 1955, and my Patent No. 2,764,322, dated September 25, 1956. Pumps of this character are usually employed for the purpose of dispensing candy materials or other liquids, semi-liquids or viscous substances from a hopper into molds, which molds are often composed of starch contained in trays that are moved into receptive position below the outlet nozzle of the pump.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a pump of this character which will greatly increase the output of a candy-making machine by the provision of an increased number .of outlet nozzles, together with the provision of a similarly increased number of mold depressions in the trays, and to simultaneously fill such increased number of depressions.

It is another object of the invention to provide a pump in which the nozzles in a plurality of rows are arranged in staggered relation to thereby enable the nozzles to be more closely-spaced than is the usual practice, and thus fill more closely-spaced mold depressions.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in View, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through a pump construction made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view through a portion of the cut-01f bar, the view being taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 3 is another sectional view through a portion of the cut-off bar, the view being taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a portion of the cut-off b ar;

Fig. 5 is an end View of the cut-off bar, and

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale through a portion of the pump, the section being taken at right angles to the sectional view of Fig. 1.

A pump of the character described is more particularly adapted for use in confectionery machines wherein the goods in fluid, or nearly-fluid form, are delivered from a hopper to the pump and ejected thereby in predetermined quantities into molds, or else deposited upon a suitable surface located below the outlet nozzles of the pump. In the drawing, the pump housing is generally indicated at 1, and the same is 'bored to provide a plurality of rows of adjacent cylinders 2, in each of which is mounted a reciprocating piston 3. The particular pistons shown are those of the so-called hydro-sealed type, and are each provided with a plurality of circumferential grooves into which a fluid 4, such as water, contained in the depression 2,765,962 Patented Oct. 9, 1956 6 in the housing 11, may enter, the water acting as a sealing means tor the pistons.

At the top, each piston 3 is provided with a stem 7 terminating in a head 8, engaged by an operating member 9 which is raised and lowered by suitable known mechanism, to thereby simultaneously raise or lower all of the pistons 3 in their respective cylinders. The cylinders 2 are arranged in rows, with the cylinders in one row disposed in staggered relation to those in the next row. It will be further noted that the cylinders in alternating rows are of greater length than those in the rows with which they alternate. This will be apparent from Fig. 6, wherein it will be noted that the cylinders in the rows indicated at 3a have their ends :10 terminating at a higher level in the housing than the ends 11 (Fig. 6) of the rows of cylinders indicated at 3b.

The lower ends 10 of each of the cylinders in the rows 3a each terminate in an outlet passage 12 usually of less diameter than the diameter of the cylinders and similarly, the lower ends of the longer cylinders, or those in the rows designated at 3b, have the downwardly-directed outlet passages indicated at 13. All of the outlet passages 11 and 13 are adapted, at predetermined times, to register with holes 14 formed through the base plate of a cut-off bar or valve member generally indicated at 15 and shown in detail in Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive.

The cut-off bar or valve member .15 includes a horizontally-disposed base plate 116 through which the holes 14 are formed, and at one end the plate 116 is provided with an upstanding vertical wall or flange '17, formed with a plurality of holes arranged in two horizontal rows. The :holes in the upper row or wall '17 are indicated at 18 and those in the lower row are indicated at 1 9 as shown in Fig. 2. As shown in Figs. 1 and 6, the cut-off bar 15 is slidably mounted in the housing i1 below the cylinder outlets :12 and 13 and it has a limited sliding movement to thereby either register the holes 14 in the base plate 16 with said outlet passages, or else disalign the holes 14 with said outlet passages to thereby, in the latter instance, prevent the flow of material out of the nozzles 20 positioned below the cut-off bar. It will be understood that the holes 114 are sufliciently spaced apart to provide enough imperforate area between them to block off the passages 12 and 13 when holes 14 are disaligned therefrom. The nozzles 20 are mounted in a plate 21 located below the plate 16 of the cut-off :bar, and said nozzles 20 are arranged in the same staggered relation to one another as are the cylinder outlet passages 12 and 13, the nozzles being positioned directly below the cylinder outlet passages and communicating therewith when the cut-off bar is so positioned that its holes 14 register with the nozzles and consequently also with the outlet passages 12 and 13.

Provided on the cut-off bar is a plurality of verticallydisposed, spaced-apart, elongated fins or partition members .23, said fins being slidably accommodated in grooves 24 formed in the housing 1. Each of the fins or partition members 23 is formed with two rows of holes, the holes in the upper row being indicated at 25, while those in the lower row are indicated at 26 as shown in Fig. 3. The fins or partition members 23 are mounted on the top of the plate 16 of the cut-off bar by means of angle brackets 27 located at the opposite ends of the fins and the cut-off bar, said brackets being attached to the fins by the screws 28 and secured to the plate 16 by screws 29. This attaching means is shown in the drawings at one end of the cutoh bar, it being understood that a similar means for attaching the fins to the cut-off bar is employed at the opposite end of the same.

The candy material to be dispensed by the pump is supplied to the same from a hopper not shown, but which is connected to the inlet or entrance opening 30 of the housing 1. Leading from said inlet 30 are feed passages formed in the housing, said passages'corresponding in shape and number to the holes 18 and 19 and 25 and 26 m the wall 17 and fins 23 respectively. The passages through the housing 1 are arranged in two horizontal rows, those in the upper being indicated at 31 and those in the lower row being shown at 32. As will be seen in Fig. l, the passages 32 are adapted to communicate with the lower end portions of cylinders 3b, while the passages 31 are adapted to communicate with the lower end portions of the cylinders 31:. Communication between the inlet opemng 30 and the lower end portions of all of the cylinders is established when the cut-off bar is in such a position that its holes 18, 19, 25 and 26 are in registry with passages 31 and 32. When the cut-off bar is moved so that its holes 18, 19, 25 and 26 are disaligned with passages 31 and 32, and at which times holes 14 will be aligned with cylinder outlet passages 12 and 13 and with the nozzles, the supply of material from the hopper to the cyhnders wil be prevented, and the material which had been drawn up into the cylinders b the ascending movement of the pistons 3 is in readiness to be ejected therefrom and out of the nozzles 20.

From the foregoing, the operation of the described apparatus will be readily understood. The material, in liquid or semi-liquid condition, enters into the cylinders through the passages 31 and 32 at a time when the cutofi bar is in such a position that its holes 18, 19, 25 and 26 are in registry with passages 31 and 32. At this time, holes 14 are disaligned with the outlet passages 12 and 13 and are also disaligned with the nozzles 20, so that communication between the outlets of the cylinders and the nozzles has been interrupted. The pistons 3 are now moved upwardly in the cylinders and the material will be drawn upwardly through passages 31 and 32 and registered holes 18, 19, 25 and 26 into the cylinders below the pistons. When the pistons reach the limit of their elevating movement, and the material has been drawn into the cylinders as above described, the cut-ofi bar 15 is then shifted to disalign the holes 18, 19, 25 and 26 from passages 31 and 32, which movement will simultaneously register holes 14 with all of the nozzles 20 and the outlet passages 12 and 13 of the cylinders. The pistons 3 are then moved downwardly and they force the charges of material out of the cylinders 2, down through the outlet passages 12 and 13, through holes 14, and out through the nozzles 20 into molds or onto a surface positioned below the nozzles. The means for slidably reciprocating the cut-oflf bar may be that disclosed in my Patent No. 2,510,317 or may be some other means for providing the necessary limited sliding movement of the cut-off bar to shift the same from charging to discharging position.

Having described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a pump construction, a housing provided with a plurality of cylinders arranged in rows, with the cylinders in one row located in staggered relationship to those in the adjacent row, the cylinders in alternating rows being longer than those in the other rows, each cylinder having a bottom discharge opening, a piston mounted for reciprocating movement in each cylinder, an outlet nozzle located below each cylinder discharge opening, a slidable cut-ofi bar mounted in the housing between the cylinder discharge openings and the nozzles, said bar having a base plate formed with holes adapted to register with the cylinder discharge openings or be disaligned therefrom in predetermined positions of the cut-elf bar, the cut-off bar having a plurality of spaced vertical fins provided with a plurality of rows of holes extending through them, the housing having a material entrance and having a plurality of passages extending through it and in communication with said material entrance, said passages being normally in communication with the lower ends of the cylinders, the holes in the fins being adapted to register with said passages while the holes in the base plate are disaligned with the cylinder discharge openings and from the nozzles.

2. In a pump construction, a cut-oflf bar having a base plate formed with a plurality of holes, the holes being arranged in rows, the holes in alternating rows being in staggered relation to the rows between them, the bar having a plurality of vertical fins, said fins having holes arranged in a plurality of longitudinal rows, the holes in one row being in staggered relation to those in the adjacent IOW- 3. In a pump construction, a housing provided with a plurality of cylinders arranged in rows, the cylinders in alternating rows being arranged in staggered relationship to the cylinders in the remaining rows, the housing having an entrance opening for material, passages in the housing leading from said opening to the lower portions of the cylinders, nozzles located below the cylinders, a cut-off bar slidably mounted between the lower ends of the cylinders and the nozzles, said cut-ofi bar having a base portion formed with holes adapted to be either registered with or disaligned with the lower ends of the cylinders according to the position of the cut-off bar, said cut-ofl bar having spaced partitions formed with holes adapted to be aligned or disaligned with the passages through the housing, the relationship of the holes in the base plate to the holes in the partitions being such that when the holes in the partitions are aligned with the passages the holes in the base plate are disaligned with the cylinders and nozzles.

4. In a pump construction, a housing having cylinders terminating at two different levels in the housing, the cylinders having outlet passages, nozzles located below said outlet passages, the housing having an entrance opening, feed passages extending from said entrance opening to the lower ends of the cylinders, said feed passages being on two difiierent levels, a cut-off bar slidable between the outlet passages and the nozzles, said cut-off bar having openings adapted to be aligned or disaligned with the nozzles and the outlet passages, said cut-off bar having openings adapted to be aligned or disaligned with the feed passage and when disaligned with the feed passages to interrupt communication between the entrance openings and the cylinders, the relationship of the latter openings in the cut-off bar to the first-mentioned openings therein being such as to establish communication between the outlet passages and nozzles when interruption of the feed passages by parts of the cut-off bar occurs.

5. In a pump construction, a housing provided with a plurality of cylinders arranged in rows, the cylinders in alternating rows being arranged in staggered relationship to the cylinders in the remaining rows, the housing having an entrance opening for material, transverse feed passages in the housing leading from said opening to the lower portions of the cylinders, nozzles located below and in co-axial relation to the cylinders, a cut-off bar slidably mounted between the lower ends of the cylinders and the nozzles, said cut-0E bar having a base plate formed with holes positioned to be either registered with or disaligned from the lower ends of the cylinders and nozzles, according to the position of the cut-01f bar, said cut-oil bar having a plurality of parallel spaced partitions formed with holes adapted to be either aligned with or disaligned from the feed passages through the housing according to positions of the cut-off bar, the relationship of the holes in the base plate to the holes in the partitions being such that when the holes in the partitions are aligned with the feed passages the holes in the base plate are disaligned from the cylinders and nozzles.

6. In a pump construction, a housing having rows of cylinders terminating at two different levels in the housing, the cylinders having outlet passages at their lower ends, nozzles located below said outlet passages and in co-axial relation thereto, the housing having an entrance opening, feed passages extending transversely of the housing from said entrance opening to the lower ends of the cylinders, said feed passages being in horizontal rows on two difierent levels, a cut-01f bar having openings adapted to be aligned or disaligned with the nozzles and outlet passages, said cut-ofi bar having openings adapted to be aligned or disaligned with the feed passages and when disaligned with the feed passages to interrupt communication between the entrance opening and the cylinders, the relationship of the latter openings in the cutoff bar to the first-mentioned openings therein being such as to establish communication between the outlet passages and nozzles only when interruption of the feed passages by parts of the cut-01f bar occurs.

No references cited. 

